A Glorious Achievement
Across the entirety of Gangseo Province, countless people began to move.
Each of them relayed everything they had seen and heard to their assigned informants, who in turn reported it to the Black King Faction’s branch offices.
The branches quickly deciphered and analyzed the information before sending it up to the main headquarters.
In this way, every single person moved as one.
Innkeepers, brothel madams.
Blacksmiths at their forges, farmers tilling their fields.
Clowns who sold laughter, low-ranking officials stuck in dead-end posts.
Regardless of occupation or social status, they all sold information for money.
And all of that information piled up neatly inside the Black King Faction’s main headquarters.
“We’ve found them.”
One of the subordinates shouted urgently.
At his cry, Gaepyeong rushed out.
“What did you find?”
“This is the last known location where the woman and man from the portrait were seen.”
Gaepyeong studied the map his subordinate had unfurled with sharp eyes.
He soon reached a single conclusion.
“Blood Mountain Valley.”
It was the place suspected to be Cheonsu-maje’s destination.
And that information flew straight to me.
“Blood Mountain Valley.”
I smiled coldly.
Was this fate?
There was no way I wouldn’t know what kind of place Blood Mountain Valley was.
In my previous life, Blood Mountain Valley had been—
“Cheonsu-maje, so you’ve crawled into your own grave.”
—the very place where I had severed his limbs and killed him.
Amusingly, in this life as well, Cheonsu-maje was heading straight for Blood Mountain Valley.
“Let’s go, Muyoung.”
“Yes, Young Master!”
Muyoung and I immediately launched ourselves forward.
Toward his grave.
Cheonsu-maje had set his sights on Mong Yeo-rin.
But to kidnap her, he first had to slip past the Sword Saint’s watchful eyes.
And that had been surprisingly easy thanks to the spy planted inside the Ju family.
Ju Sang-ah.
He had used her.
Since she was his own blood, the Sword Saint’s eyes would roll with rage as he chased after the culprit.
In the meantime, they could slip into the now-empty Ju family estate and snatch Mong Yeo-rin away. Simple.
Of course, the absence of the Sword Saint alone did not create a massive hole in the Ju family’s fighting strength.
But the spy already inside the family had moved in perfect coordination, successfully putting every warrior on guard duty to sleep.
That was how Cheonsu-maje had erased his presence, infiltrated Mong Yeo-rin’s quarters, and even succeeded in striking her pressure points to kidnap her.
But the next problem remained.
It wouldn’t take long for them to realize Mong Yeo-rin had been taken.
Before that happened, he needed to secure the most advantageous position possible.
“Lee Eul.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“The children? Have they all gathered?”
“The Blood Slaughter Unit and the Heavenly Ghost Unit. I’ve summoned them all. I ordered them to take position in Blood Mountain Valley and set up an ambush first.”
“Heh heh, well done.”
As expected, Lee Eul was the only one he could truly rely on.
Give him one order and he handled ten things perfectly on his own. How convenient.
Before long, the entrance to Blood Mountain Valley appeared in the distance.
A thick, blood-colored mist faintly veiled the entrance, but to Cheonsu-maje, who already knew the terrain like the back of his hand, it posed no obstacle at all.
Blood Mountain Valley entrance.
The moon had already tilted above the gorge, casting ashen shadows across every rocky cliff.
The fiercely howling wind felt like blades scraping against bone.
Gazing at Blood Mountain Valley, which still radiated an overwhelming presence, Cheonsu-maje let out a thin laugh.
“Perfect. With this, that brat from the Ju family is finished.”
And if the Ju family warriors came charging in as a bonus, he would simply sweep them all away.
The Blood Slaughter Unit and Heavenly Ghost Unit were more than enough to annihilate them.
At his feet lay the unconscious Mong Yeo-rin, bound tightly.
Thus, Cheonsu-maje slowly stepped into Blood Mountain Valley.
“Hm?”
Something felt off.
His subordinates should have immediately rushed out and prostrated themselves before him, yet he couldn’t sense a single presence.
“Lee Eul, are you certain you gave the orders correctly?”
“Yes, my lord. I definitely issued the command, but…”
Lee Eul found it strange as well.
The two of them walked deeper into the valley entrance to assess the situation.
At that moment.
A thick, metallic scent of blood wafted to the tip of Cheonsu-maje’s nose.
Moonlight finally pierced through the dark shadows.
And then Cheonsu-maje saw it—a massive mountain.
No.
It wasn’t a real mountain.
It was a tower of corpses, stacked high with the bodies of his subordinates.
“Welcome. To your grave.”
From atop that tower, someone looked down with a gaze full of murderous intent.
Ju Woo-jin.
That bastard had been waiting for him first.
“You…”
Cheonsu-maje was shaken.
How could he have arrived before him…? No, before even thinking about that, the deaths of his subordinates were far too shocking.
“Don’t tell me you did all this alone?”
“They were all so weak. And I wasn’t alone.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Muyoung revealed himself beside Woo-jin.
In his arms was the deeply sleeping Mong Yeo-rin.
He had retrieved her from where she had been left at the entrance and brought her inside.
“Up we go.”
I leaped straight down.
It felt incredibly satisfying.
This was the power of information.
Overwhelming speed.
And decisiveness.
I had seized this location in advance and completely annihilated the Blood Slaughter Unit and Heavenly Ghost Unit that had tried to block the retreat.
The two combat units, never expecting an enemy to already be here, had been obliterated in an instant.
“It’s all because of your stupid master that they died. Got it?”
At my words, Cheonsu-maje bit his lip hard in fury.
These were forces he had raised with such care.
Not only the Blood Slaughter Unit, but even the Heavenly Ghost Unit—every last one of them dead.
It was enough to make him want to scream in rage.
“Fine. Good. Very good.”
Cheonsu-maje burst into maniacal laughter as if he had lost his mind.
He drew his sword.
Unlike ordinary blades, it was a peculiar longsword whose blade was slightly longer than his own height.
“I’ll kill you right here, you son of a bitch.”
At last, a crimson glow began to rise from Cheonsu-maje’s eyes like a haze.
It was the manifestation of demonic energy—visible only to my eyes.
“You picked a really good spot.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
Cheonsu-maje swung his sword.
A tremendous pressure burst forth, sweeping across the area with the same reach as his long blade.
Immediately after, sword qi surged upward.
Shwaaak! Shwaaaak!
It was heavy and blunt.
A single strike carried such monstrous power that it could reduce even rock to powder.
As Cheonsu-maje’s longsword cleaved through the air, the currents rising from its tip shattered boulders and scattered in every direction.
The pressure brushed past my cheek.
For a moment, I felt a chilling energy pierce all the way to my bones.
Cheonhyeol Gangcham.
A demonic technique that infused transcendent inner energy into a heavy longsword, capable of splitting even a mountain range in a single exaggerated swing.
Its power was overwhelming, but its weight and pressure created a momentary gap before the next movement.
That gap revealed exactly who had taught Lee Eul his martial arts.
Though their styles differed, both shared the flaw of having no linkage between techniques.
I twisted my ankle and dodged to the side.
The red sword light grazed past me, and the cliff behind me was sliced away entirely.
Sand and rock fragments rained down like a storm.
“Not bad. Stupidly strong.”
I immediately drew my sword.
Not mine—Muyoung’s sword.
The tip trembled slightly.
Not from tension, but from the thrill a hunter feels when locking onto prey.
Cheonsu-maje didn’t even catch his breath before launching into the next technique.
“Die!”
He appeared to wrap the blade in reverse and slam it down, but at the last moment the tip shot skyward.
Hyeollyong Bideung.
A wide-area technique that maximized the rotational force of the longsword to release spiral sword qi, tearing apart every enemy within range.
The wide attack radius made dodging difficult, but once outside the central axis, its power dropped sharply.
I pressed my heels down, stepping outside the axis while raising my sword.
The moment the strike grazed past, the rocks on either side were sliced like lotus leaves and scattered into the sky.
In that instant, I exploded the inner energy throughout my body.
“White Dragon Sword Scripture.”
First form.
Baekryong Chulhae.
A white dragon rose from my blade and slammed into Cheonsu-maje’s side.
However…
Boooom!
The white dragon was blocked by the flat of his longsword and shattered into pieces.
“Hah, you damn bastard.”
The corners of Cheonsu-maje’s mouth were stained with blood.
He was thoroughly enraged.
This can’t be.
Cheonsu-maje’s pupils shook violently.
Both Cheonhyeol Gangcham and Hyeollyong Bideung… the brat had dodged them far too cleanly, as if he were reading his every thought.
No, it was almost as if he had been waiting for those exact moves.
“Damn it…!”
Humiliation surged through him.
How dare a mere brat.
A worthless insect whose name he had never even heard before!
“I’ll kill you.”
With the sound of his sanity snapping, pitch-black demonic energy exploded from his entire body like a rampage.
When Cheonsu-maje stomped his foot, the ground collapsed and rock fragments flew in every direction.
He drove his longsword deep into the earth, and at that moment—
Jihyeol Myeolsan.
A bizarre technique that injected sword qi into the ground to explode the terrain itself, essentially destroying the entire area.
It was difficult to avoid, and if hit, the landscape would collapse and cut off all escape routes.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
The ground beneath my feet gave way as falling rocks poured down like a waterfall.
But I had already read the next move and leaped.
Falling straight down, I swung my sword three times.
“White Dragon Sword Scripture.”
Second form, Gwangryong Jincheon.
The energy exploding from the tip of my blade wrapped around my body as I bounced off the cliff and shot upward.
Cheonsu-maje’s eyes widened at the sight of my shadow bursting through the falling rocks and dust.
“You bastard!”
The instant his longsword rose upward, I slipped into the opening.
My blade grazed the side of his longsword, ringing out with a metallic clang.
It was a light wound, but red blood flowed from his shoulder.
“You dodged it. In my previous life, you couldn’t.”
“Shut that filthy mouth already!”
The crimson glow in Cheonsu-maje’s eyes grew even thicker.
As if his blood were boiling and burning every vessel in his body, his aura swelled explosively.
This time, I moved first.
I twisted my ankle in a crescent trajectory and thrust my sword.
Cheonsu-maje gripped his longsword with both hands and blocked it.
But the blade that had stood like steel now gave way ever so slightly.
My sword qi and his pressure collided violently in the center of Blood Mountain Valley.
Booom!
Rocky mountains crumbled and blood-colored mist scattered.
In the middle of Blood Mountain Valley where the blood mist swirled, two killing intents clashed like lightning.
Kwaaaaang!
The moment sword and longsword met, the ground caved in and massive shockwaves spread in every direction.
Rocky cliffs split apart and bloody winds howled in a vortex.
“Hup!”
I withdrew my sword and caught my breath.
The collision just now had not been a simple contest of strength.
It was a pressure battle unique to transcendent experts, where Cheonsu-maje’s inner energy and demonic qi had intertwined exquisitely.
That pressure shattered the opponent’s will and slowed their movements by half a beat.
But…
“That’s not enough.”
I twisted the corner of my mouth upward.
The glow in Cheonsu-maje’s eyes grew even bloodier.
His breathing grew ragged as every muscle in his body swelled.
At that moment, the blade of his longsword twisted strangely, and from its edge rose a crimson current like flames.
Hyeolyeon Myeolcham.
A martial technique that fused demonic energy with sword qi, destroying both blood and energy in a single strike.
The moment it cut, flesh would tear, blood vessels would explode, and even if one used inner energy as a shield, the demonic qi would seep through the gaps and corrode the meridians.
Kwaaaaaang!
His strike split the rock and tried to swallow me whole.
His longsword grazed right beside my ear.
Several strands of hair were sliced away, and blood trickled down from my ear.
If I had been even a little slower, my head would have flown off.
A chill ran down my spine.
But fear was a luxury.
The instant his sword embedded in the ground and paused, I dove even deeper into his embrace.
“My turn.”
I reached through the opening and seized his collarbone.
Black King Advance Strike Body, Pagol Heuksae.
The energy exploding from my toes dug into the ground as my body slid low, brushing past Cheonsu-maje’s lower body.
By a hair’s breadth, I grazed his collarbone.
Bang!
Perhaps spotting an opening, Cheonsu-maje’s longsword swept through the air while my own blade shot upward like lightning.
White Dragon Sword Scripture, third form.
Cheonryong Ilseom.
Blue energy exploded as a straight sword light, like one that could cleave the vast sea, drove into Cheonsu-maje’s abdomen.
Kaang!
But his left hand shot out like lightning and swiftly blocked my sword.
Blood sprayed, yet Cheonsu-maje’s smile only grew more frenzied.
“How entertaining. Truly entertaining.”
The more they fought, the more his blood boiled.
And the same was true for Cheonsu-maje.
The bloody light rising in his eyes grew even thicker.
He raised his entire inner energy to its peak.
“Let’s end this.”
Cheonsu-maje struck his own chest several times.
Puuk!
He vomited black blood from his mouth and smeared it onto his sword.
Kiiiiiiaaaaak!
His blade let out a grotesque scream and burned a vivid crimson.
The surrounding air rippled as if melting.
His appearance was no longer human. The term “bloodthirsty demon” fit him perfectly.
“Yes. That’s your true face.”
Seeing him exactly as he had been in my previous life’s memories, I felt a surge of ecstasy.
I adjusted my grip on the sword.